Upcoming elections

[C.A.R.]

This is he same opinion I had years ago. It's naive, but you'll grow to understand the world better.

The fact is, nobody will ever be financially stable enough to bring children into the world until they are in their late 30s - early 40s. That's too late, not only biologically but what kind of life would a child have when their parent can't keep up with them? It's physically and financially exhausting, but until you're old enough to appreciate the other reasons for parenthood it's hard to see the justification for having children young.

We don't rely on Child Benefit - we couldn't! It's a tiny token we get back from paying our taxes every month. It helps go someway to keeping her in supply of fresh nappies and food and clothing.

Cutting it would just be another pain in the ass. I'm raising the next generation - yes through my own free will, but I deserve a comparatively little tax break for that. It's amazing how people from the outside looking in can help decide who 'needs' benefits in any measure with no prior experience or knowledge whatsoever. I pay in many times more what I get back, put it that way!

A comparatively little tax break adds up to a large amount of money if given to every single household with children in the entire country. Yes it would be a pain in the ass to cut, but then so is cutting back on vital services such as the NHS and emergency services because of a large budget deficit. Correct, you don't rely on child benefit, it is a nice addition to your income, but you do not need it, hence it is something that can be removed instead of cutting back on essential things during tough economic times such as...well now. I'm sure you contribute a lot to public funds through taxation, but it's not like you get nothing in return, and your children also benefit from tax as presumably they go to school and recieved free healthcare etc.

It absolutely is possible to be able to afford children before the age of 40. On one hand you find it 'amazing' that people can assess the needs of others when it comes to benefits, but you also know for a fact that nobody will be able to save up and pay for their own children before reaching their 40s? Like anything that must be saved up for, it requires financial sacrifices in other areas. Being unable to fathom that someone might financially plan to have children doesn't mean that nobody can nor will.

I resent my opinion being called naive simply because you disagree with it, let's just keep the discussion light and friendly even if we disagree?

I didn't suggest you were naive because I disagreed with what you said, I believe you are misinformed because you lack personal experience / education in the point in discussion.

Financial planning for parenthood would be futile anyway, ask ANY parent - including your own. Whatever you may account for, double it, then double it again. It's an insane commitment, not one to be taken lightly. The benefit is open to anyone with an individual income not exceeding £50k. That's most of the working public right there. You could have a joint family income of nearly £100k and they would get the same as everybody else.

I think you need to do a little more research into what Child Benefit really is.